Little Princess The Rewrite
by delta-negative
Summary: Rewrite of another story. Faith has a daughter, but is the father who she wants it to be? FX Disclaimer; The only ones that belong to me are the ones that I made up.
1. Default Chapter

Okay this is the new, and hopfully better, version of Little Princess, let me know if you like it.

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_The Little Princess_

_Chapter 1_

_Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess, she had long, silky brown hair and eyes the colour of chocolate. By far the prettiest in all the land, but no one ever saw her because she was locked up in a high tower by her evil step-father. She was never allowed out, and the only company she had was her kind hearted step-sister, who was sent by her captor to look after the princess. Her sister was the only person who ever showed any kindness to her, and she promised the princess that one day, a handsome prince would come and rescue her, taking her away from the evil stepfather, to a faraway place where they would live happily together for ever..._

Faith stood outside the hospital room door. She had waited until Willow had left before she went to see him, but now that she was there, she was starting to freak out a little. Through the little glass window, she could see him lying there. He looked broken. And a little drugged up. She knew that he probably wouldn't be up to talking, but the least she could do is sit with him for a while. So, she slowly, and quietly, opened the door and went to sit by his bed.

She had thought that he was asleep when she reached out for his had, and so she jumped a little when she felt him squeeze hers.

"I thought you were asleep." She whispered, smiling sheepishly at the way she had startled.

"Nah. Nurses keep coming in and poking me with needles and stuff." he said.

"Oh, sorry I should go and let you rest. Sorry." She stammered as she began to get up, only to find that Xander still had hold of her hand.

"No, stay. I think that we need to talk. About a lot."

"Yeah. That's why I came. Figured it would be the only chance we'll have, since B's is loco right now. But, tell we if you want me to go, you need to rest." He nodded in agreement, and after a brief pause, she softly asked, "How are you, really?"

He couldn't respond at first, didn't know how to, truthfully. It wasn't like with Willow, he didn't need to put on a brave face to protect her. He could be honest. All those letters that they wrote to each other while Faith was in prison, they were always honest in them.

"Honestly, I feel like shit." He laughed bitterly. "I guess at least I can wear the eye patch I had when I dressed p as a pirate for Halloween again, though."

Faith turned her head away from him, in an effort to hide her tears from him, the tears that she was crying for him. Hell, she didn't even want to admit it to herself. She couldn't figure it out, why she even was crying, they hadn't spoken to each other in person, since she stole Buffy's body, and there were defiantly still feelings of animosity and distrust between them, despite their correspondence by mail, and the revelations of those letters. And still she cried for him, for what he had lost, for not being able to save him, and most of all for ever hurting him in the first place. She didn't look back at him until she felt him squeeze her hand again.

"Hey, I'm sorry," he said softly, "I didn't mean to make you cry."

"One eye and you still see everything, huh?"

"I guess Caleb was right then?" he said dismally.

"How do you mean?" she asked frowning.

"Right before he did it, he called me 'the one who sees'" he explained. She frowned as thought, realising something that she should have known long ago.

"Yeah, he was right. It's everyone else who's been blind. All these years you've been here, you've noticed things that no one else even saw. You help because you can see what needs to be done. You saw that I needed help. If I had seen that myself, things would be so different now. People say that you're lucky to have survived all you have, but luck had nothing to do with it, did it? You're still alive, because you know _how_ to stay alive. You'd be a great slayer, you know. And I'm sorry I never saw any of that sooner."

"Or maybe I just know when to run," he joked, Faith knew that he was doing what he always did, making a joke out of it, because everyone had always made him feel like nothing. "So, how about we talk about Lexie, while we still have the chance?"

"That's why I'm here." She reminded him, suddenly more afraid and nervous than she had ever been. This was, after all, possibly the most significant conversation she would ever have.

Two years ago, Xander got a letter from Faith. His first instinct was to bin it, but, thankfully, he decided to read it. And then he decided to read it again, just to take it all in. just to make sure he had read it right in the first place. After everything Faith had done to him, all she had put him through, and just when his life was starting to work out, she drops a bomb on it all. She just told him that he may be the father of her child.

That moment, two years ago, he had felt numb, then angry, then confused, and a hundred other feelings, most of which he didn't even know existed. And Faith was responsible for them all.

The second time he read the letter, or maybe the third, he got the facts straight in his head. She found out she was pregnant about a week after she tried to bring Angelus back. She said she had never been so terrified, so she denied it to herself for as long as she could, carrying on as normal. Wilkins never knew. When she had finally come round to the idea, she had called her step-sister, Ellie, who was a book editor, living in Boston. Ellie had tried her best to get Faith to go back to Boston, but she was afraid to, because of every thing that happened to her there. See, Ellie's father, after marrying Faith's mother, had packed the eldest of the two, Ellie off to boarding school, and spent the next five years abusing Faith in every way imaginably, and some ways that no one should be able to imagine. She hadn't told Xander this for him to pity her; she just wanted him to understand.

Anyway, it was Ellie who had saved her, after finding out just what kind of a man her father really was, she had made sure that he was locked up for a very long time, and since she had graduated and was legally an adult, she had adopted Faith and taken her away from her drunken mother. But it was only a year before Faith was called and her Watcher died, scared and broken she had come to Sunnydale.

After confessing everything to her sister, but refusing to go to her, she simply continued with the Mayor's plans, ignoring her condition. She spent most of her pregnancy comatose. The baby, a girl, was delivered by c-section on the 25th of October, 1999. And as Ellie was Faith's next of kin, she was automatically given custody. Ellie had tried to have Faith transferred to a Boston hospital, but she was under police custody, even though the doctors held little hope of a recovery.

There was a catch though. Xander wasn't the only guy that Faith had had sex with during her stay in Sunnydale, and he was not the only possible father. And the reason the two of them needed to talk.

"I called my sister from Angel's; let her know she might not hear from me for a while. Gave her the skinny about what's happening here. I used to call them once a week in prison, but I only got fifteen minuets at a time, it was so good just to talk to her and Lexie without a guard breathing down my neck." All of a sudden Faith couldn't talk any more. Whenever she thought of her daughter, it always made happy and sad at the same time, but it was just too much for her this time. Once again, Xander squeezed her hand and it gave her the strength to compose herself. "She told me that she wants a puppy for her birthday this year."

The way Faith smiled when she talked about Lexie, her whole face lit up with pride and the unconditional love that only a mother can have for hr child. Xander thought that it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

"Yeah? What kind of puppy?" he asked softly, just to keep that smile on her face. Faith looked at him. He wasn't like the men she had grown up around, the ones that taught her not to trust , that she could only ever rely on herself, because men only want to hurt you. He was a good person, one of the best. It had taken her too long to realise that.

"I don't think it matters to her, just so long as it's hers." There was a moments silence between them before they moved on to the more serious side of the conversation.

"Look, Xander, nothing's changed since I last wrote to you, I don't know it you're her father, but I wanna know for sure. After this whole thing with the First is over we can do a paternity test. I mean, if that's what you want?"

"Yeah, I need to know." She didn't even hide the sigh of relief that came from knowing he felt the same way.

"Good." She said. "There's something else I wanted to tell you as well."

"Okay," this didn't sound like good news he thought.

"When you wrote back to me, you asked me who named her Alexandra, and I never answered. At the time I didn't want to get your hopes up, of you know, freak you out or anything, but the truth is, when I first called Ellie and told her, she asked who the father was. I told her that I wasn't sure, but then I told her all about you. She said that you sounded like a good person, and she couldn't understand why I treated you so bad. Her saying that, it got me thinking about things, why I'd acted the way I did, pushed you away. The next day I called her again, I told her that I hoped it was you, because if my baby was anything like you, then it would be okay, because of who you are. When I woke up, I knew where she was from reading my hospital file, and when I had turned myself in I called Ellie and she told me everything, she named her Alexandra because I had told her I wanted my baby to be like you. I told her she made the right decision. "

She finished explaining, unchecked tears running down her cheeks, and he didn't know what to say, that she had thought that much of him, it was incredible, sure, she' still gone a little crazy and tried to kill him and his friends, but he knew that things were never that cut and dry. Faith had been broken long before she had ever made it to Sunnydale, they were at fault for never seeing that she needed help.

"Thank you." He said, the only thing he could think of. She smiled in acceptance, before asking him

"Does anyone else know? I mean it's okay if you told the others, there your friends-"

"No one knows. It was none of their business." She nodded and he knew that their talking was over now until the first was history. She got up from the chair next to his bed and went to the door, turning before she left the room.

"I still want it to be you." She said.

"So do I." And the she was gone.

TBC

I'll try and get second chapter up within the next fortnight.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Only Lexie and Ellie belong to me.

A/N: Please, please, please reveiw! It will help me be a better writer, I promise!

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_Little Princess_

_Chapter 2_

_At first, when the step sister had told her a handsome prince would one day come to her rescue, she had laughed, because she knew that no prince could ever love her, but, after a while, the little princess' imagination gave in, and she began to dream about her prince. He would charge up to her step father's house on his magnificent white horse, and he would banish the old man to the most barren and unforgiving place in the entire kingdom, where he couldn't hurt his love any more..._

24 hours after the hardest fight of their lives, and the battle weary hordes were gathered in the former headquarters of Angel Investigation's, the Hyperion Hotel. Giles had driven the school bus to LA, where a quick phone call to Angel had resulted in them occupying the hotel. Now after those badly wounded had been taken to a hospital and everyone else was cleaned up and well rested, it was time to start thinking about the future. A task that was far more important to some than others.

Right now, Giles was standing in the centre of the lobby; ready to address the troops, after spending a great deal of the night discussing the plans. Faith looked around the room for Xander, but she couldn't see him anywhere. She had tried to give him some space, the woman that he had loved for the past few years was dead, and she wasn't sure how to approach him, so she hadn't sought him out, but hoped that he would come to her. So far that hadn't happened.

For the next half an hour, she listened to Giles tell everyone that they were going to set up a special school for Slayers, that groups would be dispatched all over the world to find those that were called and to bring them to the school. So far, they didn't know where the school would be, so the hotel would remain as the temporary base of operations. When no one objected to his proposal, Giles dismissed the meeting.

Hanging around in the lobby, Faith overheard Willow and Giles talking quietly.

"I'm worried Giles, he won't talk to me, he won't leave his room, I don't know what to do," Willow said frustrated.

"Just give him time Willow, everyone grieves differently, you know that."

"I know, I just wish I could help him, that's all."

Faith quietly left the lobby, desperate to talk to Xander, but not wanting to upset him further, so she headed dejectedly back to her room.

Unbeknownst to Faith, Xander was, at the same time on his way to see her. He hadn't expected that Anya wouldn't have made it, and it had hit him hard, he wasn't denying that, but right now all he could think about was Lexie and Faith. When he had first read Faith's letter, he had been floored, but as time went on, he found himself wanting more and more to be the baby's father. If he was being honest with himself, it probably had something to do with why he couldn't marry Anya. He had never told her when Faith wrote to him, and if he had really loved her enough, shouldn't he have been able to?

Thinking about all of this was starting to give him a headache, but Faith had said that they would talk after the First was gone, and here they were. He just hoped that he wouldn't be interrupting her and her latest boy toy. He knew that he had no claim over Faith, even if he did turn out to be the father of her child, but there was a part of him that couldn't help but be jealous of Robin, and he knew that soon he would need to figure out what all of that meant.

Walking towards her room on the second floor, he saw her coming from the opposite direction, though she didn't seem to have noticed him.

"Hey," he said softly, trying not to startle her.

"Xander." She seemed to be a little taken aback that he was there, "How are you? I wasn't sure if you'd be up to talking, I mean Willow said that you wanted to be alone so I thought I should wait, you know,"

"Faith, it's okay, I'm fine," she nodded in acceptance and let him continue, "I guess we've still got a lot to talk about, huh?"

"Yeah, come in," she said holding the door open for him. When she moved to close the door behind them, she realised that her hands were shaking, the next time she left this room, her entire life would turn upside down, she just hoped that it would be a change for the better.

Xander looked around the room that she was sleeping in for now. It was much like the one he was staying in himself; a bed, small bathroom, years worth of dust, and no evidence that was being shared with anyone.

"Um, sorry that I haven't been to see you sooner, I just had some stuff to work through..." Xander trailed off, "But I guess you've been busy looking after Robin anyway, so-"

"Whoa, Robin?" she asked, slightly taken aback by what he was implying, and why he sounded like he was fishing for information.

"Yeah, look I didn't mean to imply anything, I just heard that the two of you got pretty close in Sunnydale, I thought maybe you would carry on seeing him, that's all." Xander explained, trying not to upset her.

"Forget it, it was a one night stand, I've got more important things to think about right now," she told him defensively, but not unkindly.

"Right, of course. So what are we doing then?" he asked, glad to be talking about what he came to talk about.

"I talked to Angel, and he said that Fred can do the test, but Lexie will need to come here, so Angel will let me use his private jet to pick her and Ellie up from Boston. I just have to call and say when." She told him, sitting down on her bed, leaving the armchair for him, which he took silently.

"Can I come with you to pick them up?"

"I thought about that, and no." when he looked like he was going to argue, she quickly jumped in, "Just listen for a minuet, okay? When she meets you, it's either going to be as Xander, or as Daddy. I don't want to confuse her any more than necessary by having to introduce you as one and then the other, okay?"

"Yeah, I never thought of that," he looked at the ground, unable to think for a moment, as he realised that he could be a Daddy soon. It was mind blowing. Faith watched him, worried by his silence.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice laced with concern. Her question caused him to look up at her.

"It's just starting to hit home, I think. When you said 'either Xander or Daddy,' it just hit me, you know?" he paused before, in a rush, adding, "Faith, how likely is it that it's me?"

Faith had been waiting for this question for a while, and she still wasn't sure how to answer. Deep down she knew that she should be honest, but lying to protect herself was second nature. One look in his eyes, though, seeing his hope, his trust in her, she knew that she could never lie to him.

"It's very likely." She whispered, tears starting to form in her eyes, but she never let her gaze fall from his one eye.

"Faith is she my daughter?" she could tell he was angry, but he was keeping himself calm.

"I think so," the tears were falling freely now, but she ignores them, "You weren't the only guy, but you were the only one that I didn't use anything with, and you know, dates and stuff, you're the most probable. I wanted the test to make to real though" His anger seemed to have lessened when she finished.

"I'm sorry I wasn't completely honest before, I just didn't want to get your hopes up, or mine, for that matter." She started to get a little nervous when he didn't say anything. "Are you mad?"

"A little," he told her, "but not really." He moved from the chair to sit next to her on the bed. She sighed in relief, he wasn't angry. "I understand why, I just need to know for sure now." Faith nodded in agreement.

"There's something else we need to talk about, though," she said.

"What's that?"

"Angel said he's gonna try and get me pardoned, but if he can't do it, and I have to go back to jail, it'll be for life, they won't ever let me out. If that happens, and she is defiantly your daughter, then you'll get custody of her, you know that right?" It was so hard for Faith to say that she might have to go back to prison, and never see her baby grow up.

"That's not gonna happen Faith," he told her firmly taking her hand, "If Angel can't do it we'll find another way. Lexie needs a mother, and you going back to jail will achieve nothing. The only way you'll ever find redemption is by being a slayer, and doing what you were born to do," she looked at him, once again searching his eyes for a lie, but finding the truth.

"Thank you," she breathed, whilst silently praying she was right that he was Lexie's father. "So what are we gonna tell everyone else. There're gonna be really fucking angry,"

"Yeah, maybe we should wait till we know for sure,"

"Chicken shit," Faith snickered at him, making him laugh for the first time in a while. After he had sobered enough he said,

"You should make the call."

She took a deep breath and got up with determination, he followed suite, and giving her a final smile, he headed out to give he some privacy. As he was about to leave she called out.

"Xander, I really am sorry about Anya,"

"Thanks, that means a lot," he replied, before leaving.

TBC...

Coming up: Mother/daughter reunion, Faith and Xander get closer, and what will the Scoobies say?


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey! Sorry that there was such a delay updating this, seems like all I'm doing at the moment is taking exams and appliying to Uni. Hope you all had a good Christmas!**

_Everyday she would dream of her prince, imagine what he looked like. In her mind, he was tall and handsome, with dark hair and eyes to match. And not only was he handsome, he was also kind, she knew that her prince would keep her safe and love her like no one else ever had… _

**Hyperion Hotel, LA**

Giles was stressed. He hadn't had a moment of peace since they arrived in L.A. if it wasn't one of the new Slayers wanting something; it was Willow or Buffy wanting to talk about their plans. The only person that hadn't been bothering him was Xander, and yet it was Xander that had him the most worried. He had been in Xander's position when Jenny died, he knew, to an extent, what he was going through, but he still had no idea what to say to the boy.

Giles was in Angel's old office trying to contact any surviving Watchers. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be many. Willow was also in the office, trying to hack in to the Council's various bank accounts, because setting up a new Council was going to be very costly. He also owed a lot of people some hefty compensation payouts.

At that moment Dawn bounded into the office in a very Dawn like spirited way.

"Great news guys! Xander's left his room, he told me to wait down here while he gets Buffy. I think he wants to talk to everyone together."

"How is he? Did he seem okay? Do you think it's bad news?" Willow babbled, luckily Dawn and Giles were used to it after all this time.

"I don't know, he just said to wait here. Why? Do you think it's bad news? I mean he didn't seem really sad but I only saw him for a minuet he could-"

"Girls!" Giles interrupted, "I'm sure that there's nothing to worry about. No doubt Xander has a good reason for wanting to talk to us all."

"That I do G-man," Xander said from the door as he guided a confused Buffy into the office, closing the door behind them.

"Xander! How are you? We were really worried about you," Willow said sadly

"I'm fine Wills, or at least I will be. I wanted to talk to you altogether though, cause I have something kinda important to tell you all. Faith and Angel are on their way to Boston,"

That wasn't really the opener he had planned, but there just didn't seem to be any easy way to do this. At least it had confused them all into silence, as far as they knew, Faith was up in her room, and Angel was in his penthouse. The four of them were staring, waiting to see where he was going with this. At least no one ha interrupted him yet.

"They've gone to pick up Faith's daughter." Okay, he thought, bombshell number one dropped.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Buffy asked, "I could have sworn you just said Faith had a daughter." Xander just nodded to confirm.

"What? How? When? WHAT?" dawn babbled, a little too shocked to bother with something like coherency.

"Well, that's quite…unexpected." Giles said, cleaning his glasses, then frowning, "but why exactly are _you _telling us, and not Faith?"

"She probably conned Xander into it because was ashamed to face us herself," Buffy said coldly.

"Actually Buffy, Faith's private life really is none of your business. I'm only telling you all because there's a very good chance that she's my daughter too."

**Angel's Jet**

Angel had been only too happy to offer his services, or rather, his companies services, to Faith, but he couldn't deny his boyish excitement at trying out the jet. That said though, all his attention was currently focused on Faith. She sat up straight, every muscle tensed, wringing her hands nervously in her lap. Any casual observer would probably just assumed that she was afraid of flying, but Angel didn't even think that she had noticed they were even on the plane. The only thoughts going through her head were those of her daughter.

Angel reached over and squeezed her hand, and she looked up at him.

"Are you okay?" he asked her gently, she managed to give him a small smile in return.

"It's just so…big, ya know? And there's all these what ifs racing through my head, and I can't straighten them out." She sighed, "What if she hates me?"

"She won't."

Faith snorted derisively, "You psychic now?"

She groaned and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands, frustrated. " I'm sorry for being a bitch when your being so nice. It's just all so…"

"Big?"

"Yeah."

**Hyperion Hotel, LA**

"I'm sorry, WHAT!?" Buffy screeched.

"Wait; that means that she was pregnant when she was in a coma, because you slept with her before she went bad, and she wasn't pregnant when she woke up…oh my Goddess Buffy! You stabbed a pregnant woman!" willow deduced.

"Hold on a sec. can we go back to the part about Faith and Xander having sex?" Dawn said, clearly not as informed as the rest of them. Giles though, seemed to ignore her, and quickly became his usual level headed self.

"Xander, when you say that there's a 'chance', you're the father, how much of a chance do you mean?"

"A pretty good one. I'm not the only probability, but Faith thinks that it could be me."

"Wow," Buffy began, " I mean, I knew she was slutty, but I never would have guessed teen pregnancy! I wouldn't worry though Xand, you were probably one of a hundred guys she had sex with, so it's probably not your kid anyway."

Xander gaped at Buffy. Granted, there was still some bad blood between the two slayers, but Buffy's attitude was uncalled for. Not for the first time in recent months, Xander wondered what had happened to his best friend. Only, this time Xander wasn't the only one that had noticed.

"I think that that might be a little harsh Buffy," Giles reasoned, "Why don't you let Xander tell us the whole story before we judge anyone's actions." Xander nodded and smiled gratefully to Giles.

"Okay, so about two years ago, Faith wrote to me from Stockton, she'd been inside for a while and she was starting to sort her head out, and in general, she was doing pretty well. Anyway, basically, she told me that after about two weeks of working with the mayor, she found out she was pregnant, and she spent the next few weeks denying it to herself, the only person she told was her step sister who was still in Boston. She still hadn't really come to terms with it all when the shit hit the fan. When she woke up from her coma, it was eight months later and she wasn't pregnant anymore, a quick read through her file and she found out that she had a baby girl, delivered by C section on the 25th of October, who was in the custody of Faith's next of kin, her step sister.

Pretty much as soon as she turned herself in, she wrote to Ellie and told her what had happened. Ellie brought the baby to see her in Stockton, and that's the only time she's ever seen her. That's when faith wrote to me and told me that he might be mine. And now, with Faith out of jail, we're gonna find out for sure, which is why Faith and Angel are on their way to Boston to pick her up. They should be back tomorrow afternoon."

He could see the four minds of his friends working to process what he had just told them, leaving him to just hope they would understand it all, and support him through it.

"Wait," Dawn was the first to speak, "You've known all this time, you've been in contact with Faith, and you never told any of us?"

"I know that I shouldn't have kept this from you, but it mine and Faith's business. Besides, it took a long time for me to come to terms with it myself; I couldn't deal with telling you guys as well."

He saw Dawn nod in acceptance, of all of them, a teenaged girl could probably understand the desire for privacy the most. He looked to the others, Giles and Willow seemed to have resigned themselves to the facts, or at least, they weren't challenging anything he had said. Buffy though, her face was contorted with anger, she didn't say a word as she stormed out of the room.

**Angel's Jet**

"So how's Xander taking it all?" Angel asked.

"Okay, I think. He's known for quite a while though, so he's had plenty of time to get used to the whole idea. I think once the test is done he'll be cool." Angel frowned a little, it seemed to him that Faith was awfully stuck on the belief that Xander was the father, he would hate for her to be let down if Xander wasn't Lexie's father.

"What if the test is negative though? Won't he be disappointed?" Faith was quiet; she turned her face away from Angel.

"Faith?"

"I only ever slept with one guy in Sunnydale, Angel."

"But you said-"

"Yeah, I lied."

"But why? And why bother with the paternity test?"

" Because…look, if I told Xander that, he'd believe me, and he'd do a great job as her father, but, at some point he might have started to doubt it all. I haven't exactly lived the life of a nun, and he knows that. This way he won't ever doubt it."

"Okay, I think I can understand that." Angel told her, he hoped that Xander would to, but right now he was going to concentrate on getting Faith through the next day, so he didn't bring it up, "She's going to love you Faith."

Her answering smile, though small, and still a little unsure, was the most genuine smile that Angel had seen her give.

**Hyperion Hotel, LA**

Back in the office, Xander, Giles, Willow and Dawn all winced in unison as they heard the front door slam. Xander sighed, he would have put money on Willow being the one that reacted like that, she was his oldest and best friend, and always would be. A little part of him, though, couldn't help but be thankful that it was Buffy, because that meant that Willow didn't hate him. At that point Dawn came up and gave him a hug.

"If that test is positive, then she's one hell of a lucky kid Xander," she kissed his cheek and pulled away, "Now, I'm gonna go and find my pigheaded big sister." Sometimes Xander, not to mention Willow and Giles, were amazed at how mature and well adjusted little Dawnie had become. As she left, he turned to face the other two, the two who's support and respect he wanted the most. Willow went first.

"I'm angry at you," she said, though her face was soft and her voice gentle, "because you should have trusted me enough to tell me, but I understand why you didn't. I think that through these last few years, we've all been a little too self involved, and it's about time we started to trust one another again, because we're family, and if it turns out that our family is about to be extended, then, the more the merrier, because you're my best friend, so if I'm going to be an auntie, that would be wonderful."

As Willow was talking, he could feel his heart swell, he was so worried that she wouldn't have accepted it all, but he couldn't have hoped for a better response. He held here in a tight bear hug and told her that he loved her, and thanked her over and over again. Eventually, Giles had to give a not so subtle cough to separate the two. Xander prepared himself for Giles' thoughts, though he was less worried now that he had Willows support.

"In these past seven years I have watched you grow into a fine young man, Xander, you truly are the son I never had. If you need anything at all or if Faith and the child need anything I'll be only too happy to help you." Xander couldn't help himself; he hugged Giles, much to the Brit's surprise. When Xander pulled away he was grinning.

"Giles, what can I say apart from; 'you're going to be an amazing Grandpa.'"

"Oh Good Lord! What have I done?"

**Almost in Boston**

Not long after the revelation that Xander was the only possible father to Lexie, the Wolfram and Hart jet entered Massachusetts airspace, and would soon be landing in Boston.

"Faith, I hate to ask this but, how much does Lexie know? About you; who you are, where you've been?"

"She knows that I'm her mother if that's what you mean, Ellie made sure of that, as for where I've been, Ellie just told her that I had to go away for a while, but one day I'd come for her. She doesn't really understand too much, she's only four, so we tried to keep things simple. She sent me some pictures, though, photographs of her, and some drawings she did. But she's never spoken to me, never seen me in person."

"Until today." Angel squeezed her hand in a brotherly fashion as he passed her his mobile phone to call ahead, and let Ellie know they were close.

As the taxi slowly came to a halt outside of a typical New England brownstone, Faith cursed mercilessly at the sunlight, which had prevented Angel from travelling with her, and instead confining him to a hotel room. Meeting her daughter for the first time, without the support of the vampire, meant that she was more than a little nervous. She had been counting on the usual Massachusetts weather to block out the sun enough that angel could safely travel in the shadows. Instead though, he had had to go straight to the Wolfram and Hart owned hotel. Faith had called Ellie about an hour ago, as soon as the plane landed, and her step sister had insisted that she come over right away.

It seemed to Faith that, unlike herself, Ellie had no doubts that Lexie would love her, despite absence for the past few years. That reassured Faith some what, after all, who knew Lexie better than the woman who had raised her since she was born?

Climbing slowly out of the cab, she saw movement at the window, and before she had had time to reach the top of the front steps, the door swung open to reveal her sister. As soon as she made it to the top step, she was enveloped in such a tight hug that even a slayer would have trouble giving.

"It's really, really good to see you Faithy." Ellie said. Faith wanted to respond, but right then she didn't trust her voice. Talking on the phone once a week was nothing compared to seeing her in person. Ellie seemed to understand, and didn't expect her to say a thing. She pulled away from the hug and Ellie looked over the little girl that she had protected so fiercely.

"You look so grown up!" Ellie told her, which just made Faith even more tearful, though she did manage to collect her self enough to talk.

"Hi." Well, sort of. Ellie smiled delightedly and took her hand.

"Come on, there's a little girl in here who's being dying to meet you."

TBC

Please review, it'll be like a late Christmas present!

I'll try and update ASAP, but I have A Level exams in a few weeks, plus a driving tesy soon, so it might be awhile.

Happy New Year!


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks to **jazzypunker, buffwill, dogbertcarroll, IceWing, WBH21C, Layce74, Ghostrider, PolyesterRage, Darklight, tp96, rma, RRahl, gluemonkey, mfkngst, KColl2003, RTds9 and brunettesrule **for reviewing the last chapter.

Inside the house, the décor was very classy; very Ellie. Or Faith would have thought so if she had noticed it, but she wasn't really noticing anything, except for the giant butterflies in her stomach, and what it felt like to be meeting her daughter for the first time. As Ellie took her through the doorway and into the front living room, she thought that her heart would beat out of her chest. Then she got her first look at Lexie. She was sitting on a large, overstuffed sofa, her little feet dangling off of the edge; the epitome of childish innocence.

"Look who's here, Lex," Ellie said, giving Faith the final push she needed to step over the threshold. She cautiously walked over and knelt in front of her little girl.

"Your hair grew longer," Lexie told her mother, comparing her to the photos she had, where Faith was younger, "I think it looks pretty," she said with a decisive nod.

"Thanks. But I think yours is prettier, though," Faith said, letting a shaky hand smooth over her chocolate coloured curls.

"Am I gonna come an' live with you now?" Lexie asked, and Faith thought that she sounded hopeful, and she felt her heart flutter.

"Yeah, if that's okay with you?" If Faith had any doubts about Lexie wanting to be with her, she shouldn't, as Lexie was nodded in a most enthusiastic way.

"Aunt Ellie said you'd come so I was'a waitin' for you. Can Peter come too? 'Cause he doesn't like bein' left out?" she asked, holing out a well worn teddy bear, that Faith presumed was Peter.

"Oh, then Peter better come with us then, but you have to hug me right now," Lexie grinned and threw herself into Faith's arms. The slayer couldn't help but notice that she had her father's smile. It was all so overwhelming for Faith, she'd waited so long to be a mother to Lexie, had almost given up hope of it ever happening, she had imagined it a million times, that she just couldn't help the tears. She was still crying when they pulled apart.

"Mommy, why are you cryin'? Did someone make you sad?"

"No baby, I'm just crying 'cause I'm really happy. I'll stop now, okay?"

"Okay." Lexie said, the concept of 'tears of joy' seemed strange to the four year old. She thought for a moment and frowned. "but don't stop bein' happy, 'cause then you'll be sad, an' Miss Carr said that bein' sad'll give you wrinkles, an' wrinkles are bad!" Faith couldn't help but smile at her thought process. She already knew that Miss Carr was Lexie's child minder.

"Well, I think that's a pretty good reason to not be sad, then. Miss Carr must be a very clever lady,"

**L.A**

Xander sat down heavily in the chair in front of the desk that Giles was working at, Willow moved to the chair beside him. He felt drained at finally having told his family everything.

"So, how's it all going down here?" he asked, in an attempt to change the subject, his eyes scanned over the enormous stack of papers on the desk.

"Well, Willow has managed to access the Council's various bank accounts, which is useful. It means that there is nothing to stop s from building a new Council. And we can make several major changes that Travers' outfit was in desperate need of."

"That's great! Especially the part about the changes, because those guys had some serious issues,"

"Yes, quite. It won't be easy though, the majority of trained Watchers were all killed by the Bringers, so we'll need to find and train new ones. And we'll need to somehow find all the newly activated Slayers. It will be a lot more work than we realised."

"Guess next time we should think about the consequences of saving the world, huh?" he joked.

"Actually, I was rather hoping to ask you if you would consider joining us? You are more than capable of being a fully qualified Watcher; you've had seven years of priceless practical experience. We would really benefit you working with us."

"What?! A Watcher? Me? Giles I…" he stammered, and then trailed off.

"I don't expect you to give me an answer right away, especially given your current situation, but I want you to Know that the offer is there, and always will be."

"Wow, Giles, I don't know what to say. Uh, except that I'll give it a lot of thought,"

"Good. Now there's just one final thing I want to give you," The Englishman said, as he handed Xander a slip of paper. Looking at it, Xander realised that it was a cheque.

"Holy shit, Giles! This is a cheque for $800,000!" Xander shrieked in a very undignified manner.

"Compensation and back pay for the last seven years, I hope the amount is sufficient,"

"Sufficient?! Giles-its $800,000! I can't take this!"

"Nonsense. After everything that you've been through, all the times that you've saved the world, I think that it's the least you deserve. And besides, the council had accumulated an enormous bank balance over the years, so I won't take no for an answer. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get some sleep while it's still relatively quiet here." He finished, and headed up stairs, leaving Willow and Xander alone in the room. Xander let out a huge sigh of disbelief as he tried to process what had just happened. Willow watched him with a small smile on his face.

"Busy week, huh?" Willow understated.

"You could say that, yeah,"

In the courtyard outside the hotel, Dawn cautiously approached her sister as she sat on the bench, staring at nothing. While Dawn hovered, trying to work out what to say, the slayer got bored.

"Are you just gonna stand there, or are you going to say something?"

"I'm just trying to figure out the nicest way to tell you that you're an idiot," she said, Buffy snorted.

"You don't have to, I already know." Dawn moved round to sit next to her now calmer sister.

"You did over react a little, what was that about?"

"I don't know. I just…things are just so different now, Dawn. I didn't mean to be such a bitch about Faith like that; I guess I still have issues with her from way back when. And then I think maybe I'm a little jealous."

"Jealous? Of what?" Dawn asked curiously.

"When I was 'The Chosen One', I felt so alone, all I ever wanted was to be a normal girl, and have a normal life; go to college, meet a nice guy, get married and have a couple of kids, ya know? And now, it's Faith that's already halfway there."

"Buffy, Faith might already have a daughter, but she and Xander aren't a couple, let alone married,"

"Please! I remember the way Xander used to look at Faith when she first blew into town, and from the way he was talking about her, the way he defended her, he would do anything for her, whether it's his kid or not. It's only a matter of time."

"Maybe so," Dawn conceded, "but you said it your self, Buffy, things have changed, there's nothing to stop you from having all that as well."

"Maybe," Buffy said, though with little conviction.

"No, not 'maybe' Buffy! You have the chance at a fresh start; you're not the only person who can save the world now. You can do anything you want. So what do you want to do?"

Buffy looked at her younger sister. Her younger sister that seemed all grown up now, and a lot smarter, too. She realised that Dawn was right, and she didn't feel so alone, and she didn't have the weight of the world resting on her shoulders. It felt good, so she asked herself, what did she want to do?

**Boston**

Ellie had gone to make breakfast for the three of them, leaving Faith and Lexie to play and get to know each other. At the moment, the mother and daughter were drawing pictures, or attempting so in Faith's case, as she really wasn't a very good artist, Lexie on the other hand, she was a regular Picasso.

"Hey that's really good, sweetheart," Faith said, eliciting that beautiful smile from her little girl.

"Thank you. This is you Mommy," she told her, pointing at one of the figures in her picture, "and this is me with Peter, and that's Auntie Ellie. What are you drawin'?"

Faith eyed her picture doubtfully. She really did suck at drawing.

"It's a dog," she told Lexie.

"Oh." And then she went back to her own picture. Apparently bluntness was a family thing.

"Hey Momma?" Faith's heart swelled with joy when she heard the 'M' word.

"Yes baby?"

"What does my Daddy look like?" The question came a little out of the blue to Faith, but she supposed that all the other kids she knew had daddies; it was only natural for her to be curious. She composed herself and smiled at her daughter.

"Well, he's tall, taller than me and Auntie Ellie, he has dark hair, a smile just like yours and he has a patch over one of his eyes," she told her, putting her hand over her own eye to demonstrate.

"Like Captain Hook?" she asked with eyes wide.

"Kinda, except he's a good guy,"

"Is he gonna come an' live with us too?"

"Erm, I don't know, but even if he doesn't he'll still be around a lot,"

"Okay." And then Ellie called them into the kitchen for breakfast.

An hour or so later, they had fished their breakfast and Faith and Ellie sat in the kitchen, talking as they drank coffee.

"You're coming to L.A too, right?" Faith asked, a hint of worry in her voice, she wasn't yet confident as a mother, it had only been a few hours since she had first met her daughter after all, and she needed the support of her sister.

"Of course. I'm dying to meet him," Ellie smirked, they may not be blood related, but they defiantly had the same smirk, and by him, she meant, Xander. "How's he taking it all? Now that's actually real?"

"Pretty well, I didn't tell him that he is defiantly her father, I thought that maybe it would be better if he had no doubts."

"Fair enough," Ellie responded, and sipped her coffee. Neither said anything for a minuet.

"Ellie, thank you, so much, you've been amazing, you've done so much for me, for Lexie, and then I just walk back into town and change everything again, and that's really not fair. I know how much you love Lex, and I feel like I'm taking her away from you," Faith said, "I want to be with her so much, but I'm afraid that I'm gonna hurt you. Or her."

Ellie had her arms around her in an instant.

"Don't you dare start doubting your ability to be her mother, Faith. And as for hurting me, your, right, I do love Lexie, but I'm her aunt, _you're _her mother. I want nothing more than to see you two together. I'm coming with you to L.A, to make sure that the two of you, and Xander, if that's the case, are okay, and then, well, who knows. I might even take the job in Europe that my boss keeps telling me I'm perfect for."

"I love you," Faith told her through tears.

"Back atcha, Faithy."

**L.A**

Willow looked over at her oldest friend in the world and smiled fondly, he seemed to be totally bewildered by what had just happened. A far cry from the calm, focused man that had gathered them all less than an hour ago.

"You okay there, Xand?" she asked gently.

"I have no idea. Too much going on for my little brain to process."

"The money part, or the daughter part?"

"The money mostly, I've had time to get used to the possibility of being a father. And I know that you're upset that I didn't tell you any of this before, but there was a lot of other stuff going on, and I just couldn't. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I forgive you. Did Anya know?" she asked cautiously.

"No, I never felt like I could tell her. I guess I never thought she would understand, maybe I didn't give her enough credit. I'll never know now," he said sadly, because, even though she hadn't been the right person for him, she would always be in his heart, nothing would change that.

"You did the right thing, not marrying her, I mean. It wouldn't have been fair on either of you if you had." She said, giving his hand a comforting squeeze.

"Thanks Wills," he responded, grateful that she understood all of this.

"So," the red head began, with a sincere smile, "What's gonna happen if she is yours?"

"Lexie, that's her name, as for what's gonna happen, I'm not sure," something about the way Xander said her name registered with Willow; he said it in a kind of wonderment, and it made Willow hope that the test did come back positive, because as far as she could tell, her friend was already on his way to being besotted.

**Boston**

"So, what's gonna happen with your prison sentence?" Ellie asked.

"Angel's got his people working on it now; he seems to think that it's a done deal,"

"That's great! What about Julian, though, you won't be able to see him anymore, will you?"

"He's not the only counsellor in the country, Elle, I'll just, find another," Faith shrugged.

"So you are going to carry on getting help, though?"

"Yeah, it helps, sometimes to talk about things,"

"You, know, I'm always here if you want to talk?"

"I appreciate the thought, but, it's better if I speak to someone that doesn't know, that can, you know, be impartial, or whatever,"

"You don't think I could be impartial?"

"No, I don't. You're too involved. I fact, you probably should talk to someone about what you went through,"

"What I went through?! It wasn't me that he…" Ellie stopped, not able to say out loud what she thought.

"Yeah exactly. And I think that you feel guilty, 'cause he hurt me and not you, or 'cause you weren't there to stop it, or just because he was your father, I don't know. But I really do think that you have issues too, how can you not?"

"Yeah I feel guilty," Ellie told her softly, "I should have known, I mean, he was my father, I lived with him all my life and I never…I never new what he was. If I had I could have stopped him from hurting you."

"Ellie, your dad was a sicko with a thing for little girls, that is in no way your fault, and you need to stop thinking that it is. Which is why I think you should see a counsellor."

Ellie nodded in concession, much to Faith's relief, getting this conversation out of the way had lifted a huge burden, and now she could get on with her life and get to know her daughter.

And tomorrow she was going to introduce Lexie to her father, and she was starting to get very nervous.

TBC...


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's notes: **I'm really, really, really sorry that it's taken me so long to update, things are hectic right now, but there's less than two months of school left and then I'm free to update all I want (until a start uni, but I hear you don't really do all that much work there anyway) so I will be able to finish _Little Princess_ and get round to update _Blue Skies and Wet Paint_, I promise.

Thank you to the following people for your reviews,

**Marian, Aryel, spikes baybee, maliek, Koos, dogbertcarroll, TheDeadWalk, Rasputan, Darklight, tp96** and **rma. **And a special thanks to **mfkngst **for her email.

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**Chapter 5**

When the plane landed in LA, Lexie was fast asleep. It had been a long day for her, meeting Faith, the excitement of going to LA, and being on a plane for the first time, it had all caught up with her and an hour into the flight she was curled up in the enormous, plush leather seat of Angel's jet. Faith sat watching her the entire time, her hand softly stroking over her hair, committing her daughter to memory. The way her chest rose up and down with each breath, how she had one little hand wrapped tightly around Peter, with her other thumb stuck in her mouth. It all seemed completely miraculous to Faith. When it was time to leave the plane she didn't even stir.

"It always amazes me what a heavy sleeper she s, an earthquake wouldn't even wake her." Ellie told Faith and Angel as Faith carefully, almost reverently picked her up and carried her of the plane. She left the luggage for Angel.

A car was waiting for them at the airport, courtesy of Wolfram and Hart, and it would be about ten pm when they would safely be back at the hotel. With Faith eyes firmly fixed on her child, Angel took the opportunity to watch Faith. She had a look of amazement about her that only a parent can have for their child, the same look he had had when he held Connor as a baby. Complete and unconditional devotion. This little girl had just become Faith's world; her reason for everything. All that Faith had been through in her life, all that she had done, it didn't matter now, Lexie was what mattered. Angel couldn't have been prouder of the slayer right then, he knew that she would be okay now. He may have lost his own son, be he silently vowed that he would do everything in his power to keep Faith's child safe. Even if it meant he had to be nice to her father.

"So, what's the plan then?" Ellie asked, been such an organised person, she was a little anxious to know what they were doing next. Faith being so preoccupied with her staring, left Angel to answer.

"We'll go to my hotel, everyone from Sunnydale is staying there, and I'm guessing you could all do with some sleep. Fred, our resident scientist, can take the DNA samples in the morning once everyone is rested. Then I guess the rest is up to Faith, but I'm sure it'll involve some lengthy talks with a certain annoying carpenter."

"You don't like him?" Ellie asked, curious to learn more about him.

"Xander and I have never really been friends. We just don't…click."

Faith chuckled softly at his turn of phrase, just because she wasn't taking part in the conversation, didn't mean she wasn't listening.

"You know, if the two of you hadn't been so busy fighting over B, you could have actually been friends," she told him with her usual smirk.

"What a horrible thing to say," he said, doing a fairly good impression of being offended. The truth was, he respected Xander, he was good man, and would do anything to protect the people he loved. He knew that from first hand experience. Though Angel would never admit that out loud.

"So, I hear you're a rich man now," Buffy said, a little tentatively, approaching Xander as he sat in the hotel kitchen eating a sandwich. Her only reply was him raising his eyebrows questioningly, but that could have just been because he had a mouthful of chicken salad sandwich.

Receiving no answer from Xander, she took it upon her self to continue, "Look, about earlier, I was way, _way_ out of line. I shouldn't have said what I did about Faith; I didn't even mean it really. I know that I haven't been the Buffy that you all know and love recently… I went through so much last year, and I know that sounds like I'm making excuses, but it's true, and I'm so sorry, Xander,"

Xander looked at her for a minuet while he finished chewing, and it gave him the chance to think carefully about what he wanted to say.

"I know you are Buff, but it's not me you need to be saying all this to. I know that you didn't insult Faith to her face, but what you said was really harsh, and I kinda think that maybe you and her need to talk about everything that happened back then, and find out where you stand right now. And I know this sounds really clichéd, but Faith has changed so much since then, she deserves another chance, Buffy,"

"I know, believe me, I know. And talking to Faith is top of to do list, look," she said in a proud childlike way as she pulled a piece of paper from her pocket and handed it to him. He looked at her once again, only this time more in amused disbelief than anything before he looked at the paper. Sure enough there at the top was "Buffy's To Do List" he raised an eyebrow at her, but she signalled for him to read it all, and sure enough, right there at number one was "Fix things with Faith."

"Thanks, Buff," he told her sincerely.

"You're welcome, but I'm not doing it for you."

"I know. So what else have you got down here? Number 2, Fix myself." He read out loud and looked up at her.

She shrugged, "It has to be done, I know that." Xander nodded in agreement.

"Number 3, show Dawn the world, as promised. Number 4 BUY SHOES! I see shoes deserve all capitals?" he laughed.

"Of course, shoes are very important, especially when all the shoes I own are lying in the bottom of a great big crater," Buffy said earnestly.

Some time later, after settling a still sleeping Lexie down in her bedroom, Faith left to find Xander. She didn't have to wait long as just as she was closing the bedroom door, she saw him walking down the corridor towards him.

"Hey, I ran into Angel, he told me where you'd be,"

"Yeah, sorry I didn't come and find you sooner, but she fell asleep on the plane and I wanted to get her settled," she told him.

"How is she?" he watched as Faith gave him a perfect smile.

"Amazing."

"Can I see her?" Xander asked cautiously. Faith, now knowing what a heavy sleeper Lexie was, knew that they wouldn't wake her. She gently pushed the door open, the light from the hallway illuminating the tiny figure on the bed. They stepped a little closer, and Xander stared in amazement. The bed sheets were pulled up over her shoulders, and her thumb was stuck in her mouth, so much of her face was hidden, but he still found himself looking for any similarities between the girl and himself. All he could see, though, was her dark hair, which she could have gotten from her mother. If she had been smiling, then Xander would have known without a doubt that she was his.

Turning to look at Faith, he saw the way she looked at Lexie, with an unconditional, uncompromising love; a mother's love. He felt guilty for ever thinking that she wouldn't make a good mother, like he had when she had first sent him the letter. He thought that she was too selfish, too damage to love any one else like that. He knew now that he had been wrong.

"I guess she had a pretty tiring day, huh?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, Ellie said she was up before six this morning,"

"You look pretty tired too," he said. She raised an eyebrow in his direction, causing him to quickly rephrase, "I mean not that you look rough or anything, you look great, you always look great, I just meant that-"

"Chill out Harris, I get the picture," Faith cut him off with a soft little laugh, it was nice to see that the goofy guy she met all those years ago was still around.

"Sorry, sometimes my mouth sets off before checking with my brain," Xander admitted sheepishly. "So, did you're sister come with you?" he asked.

"Yeah, she's in the room next door. She can't wait to meet everybody," 'especially you' she added silently.

"Did Fred tell you that she got a DNA sample from me already?"

"Yeah, she took one from me and Lexie too," Faith laughed softly again, "She didn't even wake up when Fred took the swab from her mouth,"

"Heavy sleeper? I was too, I used to have three alarm clocks just to get up in time for school" he said. The two held each other's gaze for a moment. Once again, it struck Xander that he really did want to be Lexie's father. Maybe it was selfish of him, but he liked the idea of having someone that he could love no matter what, someone that would love him back and be able to rely on him. Add to that the chance that he would finally get to know the real Faith, not the mask that she wore when they first met, it was all very appealing.

"I guess I should go and let you get some sleep then," Xander said finally, moving slightly towards the door.

"Yeah," she said showing him out, "So we'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Yeah. Goodnight Faith." And then he left, Faith smiled as she closed the door behind him. As she took her boots off and carefully climbed into bed, she wrapped her arm around Lexie and couldn't help but have a good feeling about tomorrow.

The best nights sleep Faith had had in years was ruined by Ellie shaking her shoulder in a way that suggested she had been trying to wake her for some time. Grumbling some weak threats, she reluctantly opened her eyes.

"What time is it?"

"It's just after 7 o'clock"

"That had better be a joke Eloise," she groaned, her annoyance at being woken up clearly evident by the use of her step-sisters full name.

"Fred's waiting for you downstairs. Xander too." And that's all it took to get the Slayer up out of bed. "You go down Faith; I'll get Lexie up and dressed.

"Okay." She replied throwing on jeans and a t-shirt. As she headed out the door, she quickly double backed and hugged Ellie. "Thank you."

As she walked into the lobby, she nervously smoothed down her shirt. She wasn't afraid of the test results, she knew that Xander was Lexie's father, what she was afraid of was his reaction to the news. He may have said that is what he wanted, but he had just gone through the biggest battle of his life, and nit without loses. What if it was just conflicted emotions talking, and really, he wasn't didn't want the responsibility? Was she ready to take care of a kid on her own? Sure, she had Ellie, and if Faith asked, she would stay, but she also had a dream job waiting for her in Europe, and Faith new she wanted to take it. But she also didn't want to screw up with Lexie.

However nervous Faith looked, Xander was doubly so. She watched him pace the lobby floor a few times before letting him know she was there.

"Hey," she struggled not to laugh when he jumped in shock.

"Hi! You okay?" he said anxiously.

"Yeah. You?" he nodded distractedly, "So did you have a little too much caffeine this morning? You seem a little jumpy," she realised that it wasn't really fair to tease him under the circumstances, but she had never seen anyone look so nervous.

"What? No! Sorry, I guess I'm just a little nervous," he found it a little odd that the smile she gave him calmed him a bit. There wasn't anything particularly special about the smile, it just let him know that he wasn't alone in this, and that meant a lot.

"So, where's Fred?"

"In the office, waiting for us. You ready?"

"Lead the way," as they walked across the lobby, Faith couldn't help but notice how quiet it was, there was no one around. "Where is everybody, I thought at least the grown ups would be awake,"

"They went out to breakfast," Xander told her.

"What, all of them?"

"Yeah Angel told them there was no food in the kitchen, so they had no choice. There's still a few in bed, but yeah, most of them went."

"Huh. Damn, I was getting kinda hungry,"

"That's okay," there's plenty of food in the kitchen," he smirked, "he just said that to get rid of them all."

"Really?" Faith smirked, impressed, "You know, if you keep grinning like that, I might actually start thinking you Angel," Xander immediately wiped the smile off of his face, "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me," he might have tried to deny it, but they were suddenly at the office door. The moment was finally here.

"So," Xander said to Fred, "What's the verdict?"

"Okay, so you know I took a swab from the three of you, and well, this is the part where I would usually start rambling on about the wonders of science, but I'm sure that y'all just wanna know the results," Xander nodded, not bothering to try and speak, "There's really no questioning the results, You're defiantly both her parents."

And just like that, Xander Harris' life just gained a whole new meaning.

Faith watched him closely as he took in the news. This was the moment she was most afraid of, it was when she would find out if he had meant it when he said he wanted it to be him; if he had been honest. She didn't even notice Fred discreetly leave the room.

"You okay?" she asked him. He laughed softly.

"Yeah, I am. I think I'm more okay than I have been in a long time," he told her. He couldn't describe the emotions that he was feeling, there were too many; too intense. He looked up at the mother of his child, who he knew, through no fault of her own, still wasn't sure he was being sincere. "Really I am."

He tried to put everything he could into those three words, to show her that he meant it, that he was going to stick around, and you know what? She understood. He saw her face soften and she smiled, "So," she said, taking a deep breath, "Do you want to meet your daughter the?"

Giles, Willow, Dawn, Kennedy and Buffy sat quietly eating in a nearby diner. Things were a little tense between them, mostly due to Buffy's outburst yesterday. She had tried to explain everything, especially after her talk with Xander earlier, but until she knew herself what her problem was, it would be difficult.

Dawn was the first to break the silence.

"Do you think she looks like Xander or Faith?"

"Don't know," Kennedy answered, "She'll have brown hair, I guess, and she'll have brown eyes, right?"

"Lets not get ahead of ourselves, we don't even know for certain that Xander is her father," Giles said logically.

Dawn studied him out of the corner of her eye. It was safe to say that Giles was one of the most intelligent people she was ever likely to know, and she knew that even if it appeared that he wasn't sure about something, if you looked closely enough, you could sometimes figure out what he really thought. Giles had certain tells, just like every one else, when he was frustrated, or when there was an impending apocalypse, he would clean his glasses, but when he had made certain opinions about something, he would steeple his fingers in a Dumbledore type fashion, but maintain his diplomatic 'on the fence' façade.

Right now sawn could tell that he had a fair idea what the results would be, one way or another. He had some kind of Watcher's intuition or something.

"What do you think the test will say?" she asked him, not sure whether he'd give anything away.

"I think that," he paused, "if the test is positive, that Xander will make an excellent father, and that if the test is negative, he will still be an excellent father."

Dawn smiled; she had a feeling that it would be good news.

Not even a psychotic preacher from the South could scare him as much as he was scared now. This was without a doubt the singularly most significant moment of his life, he just hoped he wouldn't screw up. He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled loudly, trying to rid himself of these nerves with one breath. Needless to say, his attempts were futile. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Faith watching him in amusement. He tried to glare at her, but in his current state of anxiety, he imagined he looked no more intimidating that a puppy.

"They can smell fear, you know," she joked, he tried to glare harder and she laughed, "I felt the same yesterday; scared shitless, but it'll be okay. Just be yourself and she'll love you, I promise. So come on Harris, lets go and have breakfast with our daughter."

As far as pep talks go, it wasn't the most dramatic, but it was defiantly heartfelt, and just what he needed to here. He smiled gratefully, and when she returned it, he took her hand gently and let her lead him to the kitchen, where Lexie and Ellie were waiting.

She was sat at the table, waiting for Ellie to make her some pancakes when faith and Xander came in. when she looked up and gave Xander a shy smile, he almost died, it was the same smile he saw in the mirror everyday.

"Lexie, Faith said, "This is your Daddy."

"Hi sweetheart, it's nice to meet you," he said softly, not really sure of what else to say.

"Hi," the little girl said softly. Her aunt had told her she would meet her daddy today, and that she just had to be her self, and that he would love her, so she wasn't scared. "I drew you a picture," she told him happily, handing him the drwing she had done yesterday with Faith, complete with a tall, one eyed man with dark hair.

It was the best gift he had ever been given.

TBC...

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